


to the end of the line

by sssssssim



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 00:33:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17612057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: When Cisco runs into Captain America and The Winter Soldier at Jitters, he doesn't expect it to make him start falling in love with Caitlin.





	to the end of the line

**Author's Note:**

> A few things:  
> > This is a Civil War fix-it fic. Ish.  
> > Infinity War? I don’t know her, didn’t happen.  
> > NO MARVEL FICS WITHOUT CLINT TILL ENDGAME.  
> > After Flash 5x2 but like… without the angst. Doesn’t really matter.

 

The thing about superheroes… Well, no. The thing about Cisco was that he knew all about the superheroes. Team Flash, d’uh, Team Arrow, Legends, all the villains they’ve fought, Cisco knew it all. He might even have a database, but nobody asked and he never said.

It wasn’t just that, though.

He knew all about the other guys, too. The ones in New York, that used to live in that tower with the A on it. You know it. Those guys. And other smaller guys, too. The ones running around Hell’s Kitchen, the arachnide-esque dude jumping around Queens, the ones whose DNA mutations Caitlin would love to investigate.

Cisco knew… a lot. A lot more than an average person did. Hell, a lot more than an average superhero did (he mentioned Daredevil, once, and Barry asked if he meant Wild E. Coyote).

So when he walked into Jitters, one morning, and almost got knocked down by this ginormous, gorgeous guy… Cisco knew that under all that beard was Captain America. And the guy who helped him up, maybe not as large, but equally good looking, Cisco knew that was the Winter Soldier.

He didn’t panic. He might have been fanboying on the inside, but on the outside, he just smiled kindly and waved off all of Steve Rogers’ apologies.

Cisco got his cup of coffee. As he waited in line, he googled stuff and double checked what he knew. When he headed to the alleyway he usually breached from, he watched Rogers and Barnes walk to a nondescript Volkswagen, leaning against it, drinking their coffees and talking. Cisco saw that Barnes’ left arm was completely missing and that Rogers was standing with his hips bent at a very awkward angle that indicated he had a gun, maybe, in the back of his pants.

About eight months have passed since the Government tried, and failed, to instate the Sokovia Accords. So Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes have been on everyone’s Most Wanted list for the past seven months and 28 days.

He thought about waiting, at Jitters or across the street, watching what they were up to. But Barnes looked his way, eyes stopping on Cisco for a few moments.

That’s when Cisco panicked and rushed to his alleyway, breaching away to the Cortex.

‘What’s wrong?’, Caitlin asked as soon as she laid eyes on him.

‘Nothing.’, he gulped.

It wasn’t, technically, a lie.

✪

Cisco panicked, sure, but he also managed to get the licence plate. He kept an eye on it, but the two men didn’t do anything that day, beyond drive to a motel, rent out room 7, drive to the closest Big Belly Burger in the evening.

He was… terribly confused.

It wasn’t that he was going to call 911 on them. Cisco agreed with Cap, of course, considering he was a superhero too. And he didn’t want to get him and Bucky into trouble, not after everything they’ve been through.

But Cisco was very curious about why the hell Captain America and the Winter Soldier were laying low in Central City, of all places.

So he kept an eye on them.

✪

Caitlin figured it out on day three. In a surprising uncharacteristic plot twist, she didn’t freak out. All she did was tilt her head and say a clearly intrigued ‘huh’.

✪

It became a thing with them. Over the next days, they’d check the feeds every now and then. The motel had a security camera pointed at their window (sometimes the window was open and they could see the two men sprawled on the bed, either with books or laptops), one pointed at the parking lot (the Volkswagen was still there), and there were a couple in the grocery store two streets down (they went to that every day, buying a ridiculous array of junk food).

If either of them saw anything remotely interesting, they’d show the other. Granted, it wasn’t very interesting.

Barnes once spent an hour and a half in the cereal aisle, picking up every box, reading everything written on the side. Rogers patiently waited at the end of the aisle, scrolling on his phone. Neither Caitlin not Cisco did a lot of work during that hour and a half.

Once, Rogers came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist, and he fell asleep like that, sprawled on the bed. Cisco debated whether he should not tell Caitlin, but he did it, and she looked for awhile, but then she walked away (blushing, damn it).

Captain America and the Winter Soldier were doing nothing interesting, but Caitlin and Cisco still found some entertainment in watching them.

And it was a good thing they were watching, when Hydra turned up.

✪

It was day six of them stalking Stucky (it’s what the internet calls them, Caitlin, get on with the times!) and things started getting weird at noon.

Over the next couple of hours, every other person staying at the hotel checked out. Single business men, truckers, families with kids, they all left.

Come nightfall, even the receptionist left. In a rush, visibly crying, the daughter of the couple who ran the motel got into her car and sped away.

‘You going home anytime soon?’, Caitlin’s voice startled him.

‘Uhm, I don’t think so. Something’s wrong.’

She came by his side, quickly noticing the fact that the Stucky car was the only one left in the parking lot. Frowning, she took off her coat and sat down next to him.

They were silent for a while, just watching the footage. It didn’t take long for something to happen.

A van drove into the parking lot, very slowly. It was big, black paint, tinted windows, no plates.

‘What are the odds of those being the Avengers?’, Caitlin asked in a low voice.

‘Below 0.’

‘What are the odds that’s the Government, or something?’

‘Maybe.’, Cisco shrugged. ‘Would that be a good thing, though?’

Caitlin didn’t answer.

Men started piling out of the van. They were trying to be stealthy, wearing black and with silencers on their guns. They made no move on room 7, though, which was weird, but it made sense when five more vans appeared.

Five. More. Vans.

‘Cisco, that’s 60 people. Or more.’, Caitlin was clearly concerned.

Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the door to room 7 bust open. Cap came out first, in a dark suit, with three guns visible on his person. The Winter Soldier came out looking just as terrifying, even if he was lacking an arm, wearing normal clothes and a backpack on his back. But he also had a huge ass machine gun.

It was… a sight to see, really. Cisco had never, in his life, seen anybody fight the way these two men did (and that was saying a lot, considering he knew Oliver and Diggle).

His jaw was dropped, no shame, and Caitlin was surely wearing a similar expression. But she was the one who managed to speak, first.

‘They’re severely outnumbered.’

‘Obviously.’

‘No, I mean, they can’t handle it.’

The way she said it, though, it made Cisco turn to look, incredulously, at her.

‘You want to help them?’

‘I don’t want whomever these guys are working for to get their hands on them!’, she argued. ‘You can open up a breach, take them through it while we freeze the bad guys to the ground and call the cops.’

‘That’s actually… not a terrible plan.’

She didn’t even wait for him to agree with it, Caitlin got up and ran to get her suit on. Of course, Cisco followed her.

✪

It wasn’t as easy as she made it out to be, when was it ever easy?

As they breached to the parking lot, there were a lot of men unconscious, but Rogers and Barnes were both down, two dozen men beating the shit out of them. They were still fighting (holy fucking shit, they were still fighting!), but there was no way they were getting up anytime soon.

Cisco shared a look with Frost, that’s all it took. He took the guys on Barnes, she took the ones on Rogers, and in just a few short bursts of metahuman powers, they were off the men.

In the corner of his eyes, Cisco saw a guy that was sneaking up on him. He caught the punch, stopped the hit from coming without even using his powers.

‘Cut off one head-’, the guy started, but Cisco didn’t let him finish.

Looking around, there was a lot of blood, a lot of ice, a lot of groans, a lot of bodies on the ground, only some of them dead.

Cisco went to Barnes and helped him up.

‘Where the hell did you come from?’, Barnes breathed out, narrowing his eyes in suspicion even as he was bleeding in several places.

Frost had managed to pick Rogers off the ground. He didn’t look too suspicious, though, he seemed more confused.

‘We came through this.’, Cisco opened a breach. ‘That’s gonna take you to Star Labs.’

‘What’s that?’, Barnes asked.

‘Why?’, Rogers kind of growled.

‘This is a rescue, idiots.’, Frost rolled her eyes. ‘Now come on, you need a doctor.’

She melted into Caitlin. ‘And I’m a doctor.’

‘What about-’, Rogers tried, but Cisco was way ahead of him.

‘Already called the cops, they’re on their way. I’m not telling them about you, don’t worry, I’m just gonna hand over these Hydra goons. They’re used to me handing over goons. Oh, Caitlin, you should-’

‘Delete the footage, yes, I will, as soon as we get there.’, she looked, pointedly, to Cap.

He tried to say something, but Barnes groaned, clearly in pain. They left quickly after that.

✪

When Cisco made it back to the Cortex, Caitlin was clearly angry. Her arms were on her hips, she was frowning, pouting, and glaring at the two men. They were dripping blood onto the floor.

‘Why aren’t you in the med lab?’, he asked, wearely.

‘Because apparently’, Caitlin all but exploded, ‘they both heal quickly because of the serum they’ve been injected with and they’ll be just fine.’

‘Right’, Cisco nodded. ‘But you explained that they could still get infections that would slow down the healing process.’

‘How do you even know that?’, Barnes asked in a grunt.

‘Both the Flash and I have rapid healing.’, Caitlin glared at him, before softening, a little. ‘Look, just let me clean up cuts and bandage them up. ‘

‘You can trust us.’, Cisco added. ‘I saw you in Jitters a week ago and yeah, we may have been stalking you, a little, through cctv, but when we saw you were in trouble, we came to help.’

‘We can’t-’, Cap started, but Barnes groaned again, grabbing what was left of his left shoulder.

‘Med lab!’, Caitlin ordered. ‘Now.’

Cisco helped Cap carry the other man there. And it was a good thing that he did, because this was above Caitlin’s pay grade.

Cap was the one to, very gently, take off the jacket Barnes was wearing. There were bruises on his body from the fight, sure, he probably had a few fractured ribs, too, but it was nothing like the chopped off metal tech on his shoulder.

There used to be an arm there, Cisco knew. Metal, Russian, ancient but brilliant, considering when it was made. What he hadn’t known until then was the fact that the arm was connected to the body directly, skin meeting circuits in an almost fluid way.

Something had cut straight through the arm, Cisco suspected Iron Man’s lazers. He shook off the thought, and tried to shake off the devastated way Caitlin was looking at Barnes, too.

There were bits still hanging on, circuitry. Clearly, he had tried to fix some of it, but right then, there were literal sparks coming off and every time they did, Barnes flinched.

‘Nervous system?’, was what came out of Cisco’s mouth.

‘What?’, Barnes frowned.

‘The arm, was it connected to your nervous system? Is that how you moved it? Could you… feel with it?’

After a long look shared with Cap, Barnes nodded. ‘I didn’t feel much, just pressure, but… I do now.’

Cisco kept staring at it, in awe, in anger, disgusted and impressed, until Caitlin softly said his name. Pleading.

He didn’t hesitate, turned to look at her. ‘I’ll go get my tools, but if you have anything to knock him out…’

‘You’re not putting me under!’, Barnes said in a surprisingly strong tone, considering the state of him.

‘It’s gonna hurt a whole fucking lot before it gets better.’, Cisco argued, but Barnes kept on insisting he could take it.

Reluctant, Cisco got to work. Caitlin was there, checking Barnes’ vitals and getting more and more horrified with every scan they did. Cap was there, too, wordlessly putting a roll of gauze in Barnes’ mouth. He still screamed, but it wasn’t very loud.

It didn’t take terribly long for Cisco to disable everything that was still, somehow!, running, but by the end of it, Barnes had lost his voice.

Caitlin took over, then, fussing over every cut and bruise, and she extended the same treatment to Rogers, no matter how reluctant they were.

When it was all done, Caitlin was writing her fingers anxiously and honestly, Cisco didn’t feel any better.

‘What happened to the... Hydra goons?’, Cap asked.

‘Police got them, but I had a feeling Iron Heights wasn’t going to hold them too well, so I called Argus. Lyla, sorry, the Director is going to make sure they’re locked safely away.’

‘You’re on a first name basis with the Director of Argus.’, Barnes seemed dubious.

‘Yeah, we saved the world a couple of times with her husband and a few other of our superfriends.’, Caitlin said sweetly.

Cap snorted, but didn’t say anything.

‘The more pressing question is whether or not there’s more of them coming.’, Cisco pointed out.

The other two men shared a long look, but didn’t answer. Eventually, Barnes sighed.

‘Who even are you? Where did you come from?’

‘I’m Cisco Ramon, this is Doctor Caitlin Snow.’

‘He’s Vibe, I turn into Killer Frost.’, she completed.

‘Cap, you almost knocked me over at Jitters and I recognized you and, honestly, dudes, I was just curious to see what the fuck Captain America and the Winter Soldier were doing in Central City. When we realized you were doing absolutely nothing’, he snorted, ‘it was already a running joke between us and we couldn’t stop.’

When nobody said anything, Caitlin took over, speaking in a reassuring voice.

‘You need to rest for a few days, let your healing do its job, maybe let Cisco have a more indepth look at Sergeant Barnes’ shoulder. I’d suggest doing it here, but the rest of our team will come to work in the morning and it’s going to be chaotic.’

‘The less people know we’re here, the better.’, Barnes said gruffly.

‘If Hydra is still looking for you’, Caitlin went on, ‘you should go somewhere very random.’

‘They’re not gonna go to your place.’, Cisco rolled his eyes, knowing where this was going. ‘They’re going to go to my place, because it’s much better protected, and I’m gonna come over to you place.’

Easily, she nodded.

‘We don’t-’, Cap tried, but she was quick to cut him off.

‘Your friend really needs help, and he needs to rest. This way, he can do both.’

‘And if Hydra is still after you’, Cisco went on, ‘they won’t think to look at my apartment. Yeah, they saw Vibe and Frost helping you, but they couldn’t possibly know who we really are.’

‘You don’t know Hydra.’, Barnes said menacingly.

‘Yeah, but I know how to hide my trail.’

‘Just for a few days.’, Cap said oddly gently, looking at his friend. ‘Just until you get back on your feet, Buck.’

‘We’re going to trust the these two random mutants-’

‘Metahumans.’, Caitlin corrected.

‘-that showed up out of nowhere and offered to hide us?’

‘We did save your asses before that.’, Cisco sassed back. ‘Also, we knew where you were for the past week. If we wanted to rat you out, we would have done that already.’

‘But we don’t want to.’, Caitlin nodded.

Cap asked why, and both of them faltered at that.

‘Superhero worship.’, Cisco finally admitted.

‘We’re decent human beings.’, Caitlin said. ‘And you really, _really_ need a break.’

Barnes still didn’t buy it.

‘I’m tired, Buck.’, Cap breathed out. ‘I’m still tired, even after a week of doing nothing.’

It took less that 15 seconds for the other man to agree. ‘We’ll stay for a few days. Thank you.’

✪

Barnes didn’t look around the apartment at all, but insisted that Cisco explain, very in depth, all the safety measure he had put up. Rogers did look around, but he didn’t seem like he really cared about anything else beyond the bookcase filled with comic books and graphic novels.

It didn’t take long for Cisco to pack a bag, because Caitlin helped. Afterwards, he went on a grocery run and by the time he came back, Caitlin had convinced the men to not go out or order in. She kept pointing out that Hydra might still be looking for them, but the men didn’t deny or agree to it.

Clearly, they didn’t want to say what was really happening but, however reluctant, they agreed to the situation, and they agreed to send an encrypted mail to Cisco about whatever they needed.

Cisco felt completely exhausted after he breached to Caitlin’s apartment. In a daze, he showered and ate some food, pulled out the couch and made his bed. He collapsed face first into it, but he didn’t immediately fall asleep.

He was aware of Caitlin gingerly sitting down somewhere near his hip, and it took a moment for her to say something.

Whispered, with awe and incredulity seeping through her tone, she pointed out that they had saved Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

‘That’s pretty incredible, huh?’, he mumbled.

Caitlin gently touched his shoulder. ‘It wasn’t incredible, considering our particular skill sets, but it was, I think, the coolest thing I’ve ever done.’

He snorted. ‘Coolest.’

‘Cisco!’, she pinched his skin.

‘Okay, okay, you’re right!’ He pushed the side of his head to what was probably her thigh. ‘It was super cool.’

‘Do we tell the team?’

That had him looking up. She looked terribly unsure, worrying her bottom lip.

‘I don’t think we should.’, Cisco said, slowly. ‘It won’t influence them in any way, I mean, I can tell them I need to help my parents with some stuff, so it won’t be weird if I’m in and out of work.’

‘But-’

‘The less people know, the better.’, he reminded her.

‘Right.’, she still didn’t seem convinced.

Cisco mulled it over, then grinned at her, poking at her leg.

‘Plus, it’ll be a secret. _Our_ secret. It’s been a long while since we kept a secret from the team, it’s gonna be fun!’

She giggled at that, agreeing.

‘You’re tired?’

‘Very.’, he yawned. ‘I don’t know why, I didn’t exactly do that much.’

‘I’ll leave you to it.’

She moved to get up, but he placed a hand on her leg, stopping her. ‘You can stay, if you want. Tell me a bedtime story.’

Caitlin snorted, but she also settled back on the bed. She started telling him a story about a project she did in college, and at one point, she started running her fingers through his hair.

He fell asleep feeling very cozy, and he woke up with Caitlin curled around him, both of them under a blanket he didn’t remember getting.

✪

Over breakfast, Caitlin planned exactly what they were going to tell Barry and the rest of the team.

There was a rat infestation in Cisco’s building, so that was why he was staying at Caitlin’s. Both of his parents had gotten a nasty cold and a throat infection, so he was going to have to go visit them, sometimes.

They were pretty flimsy excuses, but nobody batted an eye.

Come lunchtime, Cisco got an email.

_Bucky is very grateful for all the candy you brought, but I would like something with an actual nutritional value, come dinner. I eat more than most. Please.  
-Steve_

‘Uh, Caitlin? Help?’

She rolled her eyes so hard at him, so hard!, but when they were done with work for the day, she did join him on a grocery run, filled the cart with meat and fresh vegetables, but also stuff like flower and sugar.

✪

When they got to Cisco’s place, they found both of the men on the couch. Rogers was reading Watchmen and he had a pile of other comics at his feet, while Barnes was typing away on a laptop.

It was awkward, so awkward.

Rogers helped Caitlin with the groceries, thanking them about a million times for getting them and clearly excited to cook. He also ordered them to stay for dinner.

‘Look, we haven’t been fair. You’ve helped us so much and we acted like…’

‘Assholes?’, Barnes helpfully suggested.

Cap nodded. ‘Assholes, yes. So why don’t we sit down for dinner, and you can tell us how it is that you have powers, and we can tell you what’s really happening with Hydra.’

Cisco, of course, looked to Caitlin. He didn’t need to for long, considering the excitement he could read in her eyes.

‘Sure.’, he said, smiling politely, trying to disguise his own excitement. ‘As long as you don’t make me help you cook, Captain Rogers. I suck at it.’

‘Please, call me Steve.’, he smiled. It was incredibly attractive.

‘I’m Bucky.’ He didn’t smile, but it was equally attractive.

✪

He thought it was gonna be an awkward dinner, but it wasn’t, not once they started talking. Well, Steve asked how they came about to have powers, and that took quite a long time to explain, even if they kept the story relatively short. But once they mentioned time travel and the multiverse, it took a lot of explaining.

Once that was done, Bucky leveled them with a surprisingly playful look. ‘But what is it that you can do?’

‘Well, I can see through the vibrations of the multiverse-’

‘What does that _mean_ , exactly?’

‘He touches something, he can see what happened when other people touched it.’, Caitlin said around a smile. ‘He can touch something that belongs to a person, and see them, on whatever Earth they are. He can see on this Earth, and other Earths. Also, blasts of powers that come from his hands.’

Bucky looked mildly impressed, but only at the last part. Rude. He then turned to Caitlin.

‘What about you?’

She paused for a moment, and then Killer Frost came out. Eyes flashing, hair lightening. She iced her drink by touching it with a single finger, and then she winked at Bucky.

‘How’s it going, hot stuff?’

He didn’t miss a beat, expression instantly turning into something as cocky as it was flirty. ‘Better, now that you’re here. Who are you?’

Frost was surprised to have him flirt back, but she didn’t back down.

‘They call me Killer Frost, but you can call me whatever you want.’

‘Uhm.’, Steve said. He was frowning profoundly.

‘Take it as a double personality thing.’, Cisco suggested. ‘Caitlin’s the doctor, Frost is the one with the metapowers. They can switch and even if we can’t hear it, they can communicate.’

Frost pouted. ‘Caity wants me to stop flirting.’

‘Would be best, really.’, Steve said gravely. ‘We’re way too old for you.’

She just raised an eyebrow.

‘Doll’, Bucky drawled out, ‘we’re a few years short of 100.’

Caitlin came back, then. ‘Yes, but your bodies didn’t age when you were under, right? You were both in a form of cryogenisys.’

‘We know some about that.’, Cisco mumbled under his breath, earning a gentle slap on his knee.

‘Yes, doll’, Bucky smirked at her, ‘I have the stamina of a very in shape 20-something year old man.’

Caitlin, bless her, blushed furiously, but she glared at him.

‘Just because Frost flirted with you doesn’t mean I will, too.’

Bucky was taken aback by this. ‘How does that work? Do you each get a boyfriend?’

Which… huh. That… kind of hit Cisco, a slap straight to the face, because it wasn’t something he ever thought of before.

‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.’, Caitlin said promptly. ‘How’s your shoulder, Bucky? How’s the pain, on a scale from 1 to 10?’

Bucky glared at her, stubbornly didn’t answer. So Steve answered for him.

‘About an eight, but considering his ten is electroshock therapy, I wouldn’t trust his self assessment.’

Caitlin tried to scold her expression, but she didn’t quite manage to hide her horror. Under the table, she reached for Cisco hand, which was a little weird, but not unwelcome.

‘Maybe we could help.’, she said in a low voice.

Bucky was quick to shake his head. ‘I’m fine.’, he said, even if Steve’s expression clearly debuncted that statement.

‘We’ll take another look on the scans we did yesterday.’, Cisco told Steve, pointedly ignoring Bucky. ‘Maybe we can think of something.’

Steve, in answer, took a deep breath. ‘We should tell you what actually happened after Vienna.’

Caitlin and Cisco said absolutely nothing as they listened, but she kept holding his hand and honestly, it was helping him just as much as it was helping her. The story was horrible and while he understood where Stark was coming from, he also wanted to bash the guy’s head in.

‘T’Challa offered us refuge in Wakanda.’, Steve rounded up the story. ‘But we thought it best not to stay in the same place, no matter how safe it was.’

‘Probably better for your mental health.’, Caitlin gently told Bucky.

He snorted. ‘What even is that?’

‘Do the triggers-’

‘No.’, Bucky said strongly. ‘I.. I prioritized getting the triggers removed over my arm. They did that in Wakanda.’

‘They could have made another arm, too.’, Steve said with a hint of bitterness. Clearly, he didn’t agree with Bucky’s decision.

‘I’m fine.’, he said again.

Steve rolled his eyes.

‘You’re not.’, Caitlin smiled kindly at him. ‘But with everything you’ve been through, I don’t think you’ll ever be, not fully.’

Inexplicably, Bucky grinned at her. ‘You’re really straight forward, did you know that?’

‘I did know that.’, she nodded, very seriously, before rolling her eyes. ‘Can’t do science without straight forwardness.’

‘It’s okay’, Steve smiled, ‘he likes it.’

They all laughed at the dejected yet accepting face Bucky exhibited.

✪

When it was time for them to leave, Steve managed to get Cisco alone in the kitchen. He seemed mildly awkward.

‘I don’t know how… if you and Caitlin are together or not, but we’re not using your couch for sleeping. You could stay here and use it.’

Cisco processed that, very slowly. ‘Are you and Bucky together?’

‘NO, no.’, Steve’s face was just as red as Cisco’s probably was. ‘No, we’re not like that, but uh we, well, we feel safer if we’re together.’

‘Right.’

Cisco thought that was a lie, but it wasn’t his business, so he let it go.

‘No, Caitlin and I aren’t together either, but we’re used to sleepovers, it’s fine.’

‘If you’re sure.’

He nodded, but somewhere in the back of his head, he knew it would have been polite to actually ask Caitlin, and he knew the reason he didn’t do that was because he didn’t want to hear her say “Yes, go home”.

✪

He didn’t feel as bad about it when, after he came out of the shower, Cisco saw that the couch was pulled up and Caitlin casually explained that she didn’t really mind sharing.

But once he was laying down in her bed, counting her breaths and smelling lavender from god knows where, Cisco had a shockingly alarming thought. He thought it wasn’t just about minding sharing a bed, and he thought it wasn’t just about hearing what Steve and Bucky had been through.

And then he thought about how they haven’t actually ever done this before, share a bed, not when she had PTSD after Zoom kidnapped her, not when Dante died, they never slept next to each other before.

It was alarming because Cisco liked it an enormous amount and he felt a ridiculous urge to hug her.

✪

_Do superheroes get lunch breaks? Cause if they do, they should pick up some Big Belly Burger and come over. B_

_By “some”, he means at least 6 doubles for us. -Steve_

The emails came in rapid succession at the exact time Cisco’s stomach started rumbling. Barry was at CCPD all day, Nora shadowing him, Sherloque was working on god knows what in his space, Caitlin was in her lab looking over Bucky’s scans, Ralph was… not there, Cisco didn’t really know where he was, and Iris was the only one left in the Cortex, working on an article.

‘Hey, Iris. Any lunch plans?’

She didn’t stop typing. ‘Meeting Nora and Barry.’

That settled it, he pushed the intercom, knowing it will only annoy Sherloque. ‘Caitlin, you have 10 minutes to wrap it up before I’m taking you out for lunch.’

She looked straight up at the camera, shook her head in amusement, but she also gestured an “okay” with both of her hands, before mimicking an army salute, meaning she understood they were going to meet up with Steve and Bucky.

After Cisco stopped chuckling, he realized that Iris wasn’t typing anymore. In fact, she was focusing on him, watching him with a surprised expression.

‘What?’, Cisco asked, wearely.

‘You and Caitlin are…’, she frowned.

‘Going out for lunch, yes. Unless you have anything particular you want us to do, or?’

‘No, no, nothing. You two… go on your date.’

‘Okay.’ He turned back to the computer, shutting things off.

It took a few seconds for him to turn, with wide eyes, to Iris. ‘Wait wait wait! It’s not a date!’

‘You said you’ll _take her out_.’

‘That doesn’t mean anything, it’s not a date. It’s never a date with us.’

Iris raised her eyebrows, at that. ‘That sounded like you’re disappointed.’

It did, it really did, but he wasn’t going to admit that to her.

‘I’m not, you’re hearing things. You should get yours ears checked out.’

His sass did the job. Iris rolled her eyes and went back to her article, as Cisco tried his damn hardest to get his heartbeat back to normal.

✪

‘So are you really going to take me out to lunch, or are we going to see our favorite geriatrics?’

Caitlin smiled widely at him, already dressed to go. She fluffed her hair, trying to get it all out from under the coat. A few strands of it got stuck to the soft pink she had on her lips that day.

There was no way Cisco’s heartbeat was ever going back to normal.

✪

Lunch was… pretty nice, actually. As they ate, they traded stories about weird superhero-ing moments, and it was fun.

Caitlin had the decency to wait until they finished eating, before she turned and leveled Bucky with a look.

‘I took a closer look at your scans.’

‘Whatever Cisco did, it worked. It doesn’t hurt anymore.’

Caitlin hummed, a very specific sound she made when she knew someone was lying.

‘First, I thought that maybe we could remove the pieces of tech that are left, but it’s not possible.’

‘Why not?’, Steve asked eagerly.

‘That space, on the shoulder, it can’t be left… empty. It would be a constant open-’

‘I can’t grow an arm.’, Bucky snorted. ‘Damn serum can’t even do that.’

Caitlin huffed. ‘You need a new arm.’

‘Or I could keep it as is, since it doesn’t hurt.’

‘Buck’, Steve tried, ‘maybe you should-’

‘It doesn’t hurt!’, he glared at everyone, and it was quite… scary.

Caitlin had no fear. She reached for his hand, but didn’t quite grab in, instead she ran a few fingers on his skin.

‘What are you doing?’, Bucky asked, very suspicious.

‘You feel that?’, she asked sweetly.

He nodded.

‘Did you like the food?’

‘Yeah?’, he was confused.

‘Did you sleep well last night?’

‘I only had two nightmares, so yes.’

Caitlin huffed, understanding.

‘Did you watch tv today? Read a book?’

‘Where is this going?’, Bucky took his hand away. ‘What are you-’

‘You’re alive.’, Caitlin said gently. ‘You’re alive, you feel things, you like some things, dislike others. You’re _alive_ , Bucky. The life you had with Hydra is dead and gone. Why would you drag along with you something dead, if you’re living?’

There was silence in the room for a long while. Caitlin and Steve were both looking at Bucky, with equally soft looks, but quite different in nature. Bucky was looking down at his one hand, which was fisted loosely on top of the table.

Cisco looked to Caitlin and thought about how good she was. There was nothing but warmth at her core, so strong it would never be cooled down by any amount of ice.

He wanted to make her burn even brighter.

‘You want to make me an arm?’, Bucky finally asked, hesitantly looking from Caitlin to Cisco.

‘We would’, she nodded, ‘but that would take us a lot of time. However, Shuri has already made you an arm.’

Bucky’s jaw dropped.

‘You spoke with Shuri?’, Steve asked.

‘Yup.’, she seemed proud.

‘How did you get her email?’

‘I didn’t, I followed her on Instagram.’

Cisco snorted, loudly, but he was the only one.

‘Just think about it, don’t dismiss it. Shuri is willing to come here, bring her tech and do the procedure in Star Labs. We would help, but we’d keep everyone else out.’

‘How would we do that?’, Cisco felt the need to ask.

‘Barry owes me a favor.’

He didn’t enquire further.

‘You’ll think about it, right?’, Steve asked, very hopeful.

Cisco thought that under the table, his hand was on Bucky’s knee, and judging by how he also lowered his hand out of sight, that was probably the case.

After a long while, Bucky nodded.

‘Good.’, Caitlin grinned. ‘Ask me or Shuri any questions you have.’

They left quickly after that, but Cisco didn’t miss the very grateful look Steve threw Caitlin’s way.

✪

Iris was eyeing them intently when they made it back to Star Labs. Cisco was throwing her desperate looks to make her shut up, but of course, she ignored it.

‘How was lunch, Caitlin?’

She lit up, smiling widely. ‘It was quite nice, actually. Right?’

Cisco nodded, keeping his mouth shut until Caitlin left for her lab.

‘Don’t say it!’, he warned Iris.

‘I’m just going to tell you one thing.’, she said gently. ‘Don’t think you don’t have a chance because you’re her best friend.’

Cisco tried to say something, really he did, but nothing he thought of was strong enough to refute Iris.

✪

That night, when Caitlin got in bed, she turned and faced him. He didn’t turn to look at her, but when she touched his arm, he moved his head closer to her.

‘Do you think we convinced Bucky?’

‘We?’, he snorted. ‘I didn’t do anything, it was all you. I don’t know if you managed to convince him, but I think he’s closer to having two arms than he was yesterday.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Maybe Shuri will help.’

‘God, I hope so.’

‘You like Bucky a lot, huh?’, he managed to make it sound sly, not utterly jealous.

Caitlin huffed. ‘I do, but not in the way you’re implying.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Plus, I think he’s already spoken for.’

Cisco turned to look at her. She was very close and even though there was little light in the room, he could see that she was smirking.

‘I thought I was imagining things.’, he admitted.

‘You’re not. It’s interesting, isn’t it?’, her voice grew softer. ‘How it’s obvious to us, from the outside, but they don’t see it.’

Cisco felt guilt, at that moment, because he hadn’t seen it, either. Even if he’s been by Caitlin’s side for years, he didn’t see it could be more. Not until now.

‘People can be blind’, he whispered, ‘when it comes to seeing what’s in front of them.’

Caitlin didn’t say anything for a long while, but Cisco knew she was thinking about it, so he waited.

‘It’s understandable, Cisco. What’s important is that when you finally see it, you do something about it. You take a chance.’

They definitely weren’t talking about Bucky anymore, but he didn’t feel like he could handle talking about something else, not yet.

‘What if you have to wait? What if you see it, you want to take a chance, but you can’t? Not… right then?’

‘Then you wait.’, she was smiling. ‘But maybe don’t wait too long?’

‘So what’s the timeline here?’

Caitlin chuckled. ‘When you’re ready, but… Don’t make me wait too long.’

He gulped, because that was… straight forward. She had said something, something big, even if she didn’t use specific words.

Cisco was terrified. And excited. Very excited. And very scared.

She moved even closer to him, pushed her cheek to his arm.

‘You’re very warm.’, she whispered, already half asleep.

‘Sorry?’

‘I like it.’

Caitlin was asleep within the next five minutes, but it took Cisco longer to stop thinking about how it would be to be with her. Actually _be_ with her.

He wanted it desperately.

✪

Two days later, Caitlin and Cisco almost died.

There was an awful metahuman wreaking havoc, and even though they had all hands on deck, Frost and Vibe still got a nasty blow.

Cisco got a concussion, Caitlin healed in an hour. They were okay, but very, very fucked up.

They got an email from Steve just as they were ready to go home.

_How hurt are you?_

Caitlin was the one to type the response. _Not a lot, but we’re pretty shaken._

_We have hot chocolate._

That’s all it took. They took an Uber and when they got there, Steve had made a giant pot of white hot chocolate.

Caitlin went into the bedroom, came out wearing Cisco’s pajamas, wordlessly throwing herself on the couch and instantly plastering herself to his side.

It made both Steve and Bucky smirk at Cisco, but thankfully, they didn’t say anything.

For the next couple of hours, they just hung out. The tv was playing documentaries in the background, they talked about anything and everything, from the pain of losing a team member to how Steve likes to use graphite over ink.

It was a good ending to a fucking terrible day, and by the end of it, Caitlin was asleep with her head on Cisco’s lap.

‘So something changed’, Steve smiled at him, ‘since our last talk.’

Cisco blinked at him for a while. Captain America wanted to talk about his love life, because that was a normal thing to happen, sure. Not.

‘Not yet.’, he finally said.

‘As the leading authority on waiting too long, don’t.’

He was blushing furiously, probably, but Steve was smiling softly at him, and Bucky was looking softly at Steve.

‘This is all your fault.’, Cisco mumbled. ‘It wouldn’t have happened if you haven’t showed up.’

‘You’ll thank us later.’, Bucky snorted. ‘Now let’s get Caitlin to bed.’

‘I’ve got her.’, Cisco grunted.

He opened a breach before he gently, very gently, picked Caitlin up. She didn’t wake up, not even when he laid her in bed.

✪

Shuri called the next day. Cisco got a text from Caitlin, _GET IN MY LAB NOW_ , and when he got there, she was skyping with Shuri.

Cisco easily joined the conversation. Shuri was unrealistically young, out of this world smart, and incredibly cool. He liked her instantly.

They talked about Bucky’s procedure for hours, hours and hours, until Barry texted to ask if they were alive, even after Star Labs was empty. But by the end of it, they had everything planned pretty much to the minute, and Shuri was set to come over the next week, giving Bucky more time to get ready for the procedure.

Mentally, that is. Physically, there was nothing he needed to do, but mentally, all of them agreed that he needed to come to terms with it.

‘It’s good that Steve’s there’, Shuri said, ‘he’s the best medicine for Bucky, but you’re helping too.’

‘We are?’, Caitlin was surprised by this, and so was Cisco.

Shuri smiled softly. ‘They both like you, and Bucky is always surprised whenever a stranger offers help, without attaching pity to it.’

‘We still feel it’, Cisco pointed out, ‘but we’re good at hiding it.’

‘Good!’, the young woman grinned. ‘Also, you’re apparently quite cool to chill with.’

‘Cool!’, Cisco snorted, getting a slap on the back of the head from Caitlin.

‘Yes, cool.’, Shuri frowned. ‘Why are you laughing? Cisco? Stop laughing and tell me!’

✪

Four days later, Caitlin came to Cisco’s workshop. At first she didn’t say anything, just sat on a chair and watched him work, but it was clear she had something on her mind.

Eventually, after an hour, he caved and asked what was wrong.

‘A number of things, but I… I mean we…’, she sighed. ‘We haven’t heard from Steve and Bucky ever since we’ve spoken to Shuri.’

That was true and it was mildly alarming, but Cisco wasn’t too worried. ‘Steve can handle it. If he can’t, he’ll call. Plus, they’re bound to run out of food sooner or later.’

Caitlin didn’t seem convinced.

‘You could email them, you know.’, he handed her the tablet.

She hesitated a little, but did start typing away. There was a lot of editing involved, in that email, a lot of deleting and retyping, but Caitlin did, eventually, send it.

The answer came almost instantly. _It’s not going too well. Actually, I could use some help. I think Buck needs you to yell at him, and Cisco to make him laugh. Please come over, if you can._

Caitlin looked like she was about to cry, and he couldn’t have that. So Cisco got up, kissed her quickly on the forehead and said he was going to let Iris know they’re leaving for the day. For good measure, as he ran out of his workshop, he made sure to “accidentally” slide on the floor. He heard her laugh as he ran down the corridor.

✪

When they got to the apartment, Bucky was tucked away in a corner of the couch, wrapped up in three different blankets, so that only his eyes and eyebrows were visible. Steve looked like a mess, too, like he hadn’t slept at all since the last time they saw him.

Cisco was not equipped to handle this. It must have shown on his face, because Caitlin suggested he go out and get some food. Grateful, he left, took his time in the grocery store and debated getting some burgers, but it was 4PM so he got donuts, instead. Lots and lots of donuts. And because he was nice and knew Caitlin wanted it, he got everyone coffee.

It took an hour and a half before he got back, and when he did, Bucky had come out of his nest of blankets, but he still wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes.

Caitlin was standing up, clicking her heels on the floor, kind of towering over Bucky and addressing him directly, in a no-bullshit but still soft way. Judging by the way Steve was looking at her (in shock, with awe, incredulity and gratefulness), Cisco was willing to bet that she hadn’t stopped talking since he left.

‘Cisco, you’re back!’, she immediately singled him out. ‘Put the sugar down and tell me things you can only do with two hands.’

‘Uhm.’

‘Things that Bucky isn’t able to do now.’

‘Well…’ He thought about it, but just for a second. He looked to Bucky, even if the other man wasn’t looking back.

‘Wear shoes with shoelaces. Button up a shirt. Cut a watermelon. Play on Xbox. Wash your hair without doing ballet in the shower.’

Bucky still wasn’t looking up, and Cisco thought that was what Caitlin wanted. So he went to her side.

‘This.’, he said.

Caitlin frowned at him. Bucky didn’t look up.

Cisco grinned before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up, spinning her around a few times. Of course, Caitlin screeched and that was what made Bucky look up, surprised.

After he put Caitlin down, Cisco leveled Bucky with a look.

‘You could hug someone for real, you know, the type of hug where you don’t know where one person starts and the other ends. You could hold a gun and keep fist fighting, if it ever comes to it. You need both hands to do CPR. Sex is better with all limbs free.’

‘Cisco!’, Caitlin groaned.

‘Sorry, but it’s true.’

He didn’t feel sorry for saying it, not even if he could clearly see that Bucky was uncomfortable. Still, he was watching Cisco.

‘Look, man.’, he sighed. ‘I don’t know what Caitlin told you until now, but I know she’s right. I’m just gonna add that there are some fun things you’re missing out on. And… the people around you, they’re missing out on them too.’

Immediately, Bucky’s eyes moved to Steve.

‘I’m okay, but…’, he shrugged. ‘Wanda definitely wants you to braid her hair.’

Bucky spoke, for the first time. ‘How the hell am I gonna braid her hair with a metal arm?’

‘For crying out loud!’, Caitlin was exasperated. ‘You didn’t even look at the design Shuri send you?’

‘I didn’t know she send anything.’, Steve narrowed his eyes at Bucky.

‘I didn’t open it.’

‘That was stupid!’, Caitin glared at him.

‘What does it matter?’, Bucky said gruffly. ‘It’s a metal arm connected to my nervous system, what does it matter how it looks like?’

‘I want to strangle you right now.’, was what she started with, before shaking her head and making sure she wasn’t so confrontational. ‘The new arm is light, so your shoulder and chest won’t feel strain. It’s vibranium, so it’s going to protect you even better than you old arm, and it’s going to have a long life. The technology isn’t completely different than what Hydra did to you, but it’s decades in the future. You’re going to feel it.’

‘You said it wasn’t going to hurt.’, Steve said harshly.

‘It won’t.’, Caitlin smiled, turning back to Bucky. ‘It’s connected to your nervous system, so it will be able to send signals to your brain. You’ll feel outside temperature, object texture, pressure when someone touches you. It won’t be a lot, it won’t be like flesh, but it’s going to be more than nothing.’

That was the first time Bucky seemed actually shaken up, staring up at Caitlin with wide eyes.

‘You’re not an idiot, Bucky Barnes.’, Caitlin told him strongly. ‘You’re smart and you have an analytical brain. You _know_ getting this procedure done will be a good thing for you. And I understand that you’re afraid of it, and anxious, but you need to stop finding excuses to dismiss it, and start accepting it.’

Slowly, Bucky nodded. He looked away, rubbing at his eyes before looking back to Caitlin.

‘How can someone so beautiful and kind be so fucking scary?’

Caitlin blinked and her eyes flashed, hair turning blonde. Frost smirked, raising an eyebrow.

‘I didn’t mean you.’, Bucky told her. ‘You’re plenty scary, but Caitlin’s surprising.’

With another blink, Frost was gone and Caitlin was blushing. ‘Thank you. But how can you still ask that, knowing Natasha Romanoff?’

Bucky pulled a face.

‘She has a point, Buck.’, Steve was clearly trying not to laugh.

‘We all need a scary, pretty lady in our lives, sometimes.’, Cisco nodded, shamelessly.

Caitlin, heavily amused, smirked at him. ‘You think I’m pretty?’

‘I think you’re pretty grateful I got coffee.’, he didn’t miss a beat.

Things got normal after that, drinking coffee and eating their weight in donuts. Cisco tried really hard to ignore the way both Steve and Bucky were looking at him.

✪

Caitlin was pretty happy when they made it back to her apartment. It was still early, so Cisco helped her organize her closet.

How did he get there? It was a blur. He didn’t think he actually agreed to help, but he found himself in her closet, arranging heels based off colors and folding tshirts and pants.

The domesticity of it was a little surprising, mildly alarming and most definitely welcomed.

And when they got in bed, Caitlin sweetly thanked him for the help, hugging him and not managing to pull away before she fell asleep.

✪

The day before Shuri was set to arrive, Cisco compulsively went over the procedure, until he remembered every step by heart. Similarly, Caitlin only came out of her lab for emergencies (bathroom breaks, coffee, yell at Barry for hitting a wall head first). They left the lab very late at night and were quick to throw themselves in bed.

‘We ready for tomorrow?’, Cisco asked.

‘Yes, we are.’

‘Shuri on her way?’

‘Gonna be here at 10.’

‘Bucky?’

‘Didn’t talk to me, but Steve said he was okay.’

‘Is the lab ready?’

‘Of course.’

‘Is it gonna be empty?’

‘Oh, yeah.’

‘But how?’

Caitlin smirked. ‘Everyone’s relocating to the airstrip for a few days.’

‘A few days?’

‘Yes, Bucky’s going to have a two-three days recovery period.’

‘Right, but how did you convince Barry, Iris and Sherloque to leave?’

Inexplicably, Caitlin giggled. ‘I just had to convince Barry.’

He huffed, mildly annoyed. ‘Stop being sneaky and tell me!’

‘Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to know.’

Cisco whined. ‘You’re being annoying, Caitlin!’

She just hummed, unperturbed, snuggled up to his side.

‘Really you are!’

Caitlin pushed her cheek to his arm, rubbed their skin together before placing a butterfly kiss right on his inner elbow.

He knew he was blushing, but she couldn’t see it, because her face was, once again, smushed to his arm.

‘Stop being cute.’, he mumbled.

Caitlin cackled, evilly. ‘Never!’

Next thing he knew, Cisco’s stomach was being viciously tickled. He went on with it for a while, let Caitlin have her laughs, laughed along with her because he really was a very ticklish person. But after awhile, he pushed her off of him, making her yelp in surprise as she hit the bed.

But it was Caitlin, and she didn’t let go of things easily, so she was ready to get up and attack him again. In order to stop her, Cisco had to plaster himself over her. There was no other way, really, except for rolling himself on top of her.

She still struggled for a while, but stopped soon enough. Caitlin whined, hugged him and pushed her face in the crook of his neck.

‘Mkey, you win.’ The words were mumbled against Cisco’s neck, and the air was cool against his skin (thanks, Frost!), making goosebumps appear. He managed to refrain from actually shivering.

He moved to get off of her, but her arms around his back strengthened their hold.

‘No, stay.’, Caitlin mumbled. ‘You’re so warm.’

Cisco’s heart instantly started beating like crazy, because this was something else. Sleeping in the same bed was something else, too, a week ago, and this was another big change. But he didn’t once think of refusing her.

He nodded once, not trusting himself to talk but knowing she could feel it. Gently, Cisco moved a little, until he was only half sprawled over her body, with one arm under her head and the other around her waist.

They settled easily, holding each other, cuddling in the dark.

‘The next few days are going to be difficult.’, Caitlin whispered.

‘Yeah, but you’re going to be amazing and when it’s done, Captain America and the Winter Soldier are going to forever be grateful you helped them.’

‘That’s not why we’re doing it.’

‘I know.’, Cisco smiled. ‘We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do and because we want Bucky to be as happy as possible.’

‘As happy as possible sounds about right. Can I get that?’

Panic, in Cisco’s brain. Lots and lots of panic. It went away when Caitlin started playing with a strand of his hair.

‘Soon.’, he managed to whisper.

She hummed, pleased. Nothing else was said that night, they fell asleep closer than they ever were before, and not just in the physical aspect.

✪

Cisco breached to his apartment at 8:30AM. He had strict instructions for Bucky, about what to eat and drink, what sort of clothes to wear and what to bring with him.

Steve must have known it all, already, because they were already set to go when Cisco got there. Well… Almost.

Bucky was standing in the middle of the living room, muscles evidently tense. He was breathing perfectly, so much so that it was clear he was controlling it, his one fist was pushed to his outer thigh, and he was blinking quickly at nothing in particular.

Cisco turned to Steve, not saying anything but asking anyway.

Steve sighed and mouthed ‘I tried everything’.

Caitlin had prepared Cisco for this. So he took a deep breath and went to Bucky’s side. He didn’t look up, not even after Cisco called his name.

So he, kind of violently, grabbed his chin and forced Bucky to look up.

‘This is going to be a shitty experience, but you’ve been through worse and this time, all the doctors are prioritizing your well being above anything else. On top of that, as opposed to the past 70 years, you’re not going to be alone for this.’

Cisco let go of Bucky’s chin and grabbed his shoulder, instead.

‘It’s gonna be worth it, man. Promise.’

Bucky sighed. ‘Steve keeps doing that, too.’

‘Right.’, Cisco smiled. ‘Well you don’t know me very well, but you know Steve would never lie to you.’

‘You wouldn’t lie to me, either. Not about important things like this, anyway.’

Cisco didn’t deny it.

‘Caitlin would probably murder you, anyway.’, Bucky teased, which was a good sign.

‘She wouldn’t murder me.’, Cisco snorted. ‘Frost, though…’

Bucky chuckled, weakly.

‘Come on, dude.’, Cisco said gently. ‘You’ve got this. And if you don’t, then we’ve got you.’

‘Okay.’, Bucky said, shakily, before taking a deep breath and speaking more clearly. ‘Okay, let’s go.’

Cisco opened up a breach and Bucky was the first to step through it.

✪

Caitlin fussed over Bucky, which seemed to annoy him, but he didn’t argue against it. He was already hooked to machines and ivs 10 minutes after arriving at Star Labs, and Steve was already anxiously shuffling around.

It was an intense hour, but Cisco kept himself busy with last minute checkups that he really didn’t need to do.

There was a loud BANG that disrupted their angst fest. Caitlin shrieked and ran out of the lab.

‘What was that?’, Steve asked.

‘That was the distinct sound of a spaceship landing on the Star Labs roof.’, Cisco was unperturbed. ‘It’s Shuri.’

‘It’s more of an airplane than a spaceship.’, Bucky said.

‘Does that happen often?’, Steve’s eyes were a little wide. ‘Spaceships landing on your roof?’

‘Remember the Legends? I told you about them. They’re the only ones who have a spaceship. So Shuri has an airplane, you say?, he couldn’t help but be interested.

Bucky huffed. ‘She’ll let you look at it if I ask her to.’

‘And what do I gotta do to get you to ask her?’

Cisco didn’t like the evil glint in Bucky’s eyes as he said ‘I’ll let you know.’

✪

Shuri and Caitlin were already talking excitedly when they walked into the med lab. They stopped, though. Shuri first bumped fists with Steve, and then jumped on Bucky’s bed.

Cisco didn’t really manage to keep up with the conversation that followed, mostly because Shuri was speaking very, _very_ quickly and every other word was an insult. Bucky, for his part, nodded when it was expected, answered every question Shuri asked, and looked completely enamored though it all.

‘Bucky had a little sister.’, Steve explained. ‘He knows how to deal with them.’

It was quite adorable, Cisco had to agree. But then Shuri turned back to Caitlin and she didn’t seem like a little sister anymore, but like the genius that was going to give Bucky back his arm.

They got to work with prep, but when it came the time to put Bucky to sleep, they all paused, in order for Steve to say goodbye.

Cisco wanted to give them privacy, but they had already scrubbed for surgery. So even if he turned his back to them, Cisco still heard it.

He heard Steve gently say Bucky’s name.

‘Don’t.’, he said, immediately. ‘Don’t tell me it’s going to be okay.’

‘It’s not going to be okay.’, Steve said softly. ‘It’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be a shit couple of days, but the procedure is going to be a success. The nerds have your back.’

‘Hey!’, Shuri yelled.

‘Shut it!’, Bucky countered immediately, before his voice went a lot softer. ‘I’m scared.’

‘I know you are, but you never told me what you’re scared of.’

‘That I’ll wake up…’ His voice broke and he didn’t go on.

‘What, Buck?’

‘I’ll wake up and I’ll be back there, back in the chair. Ready to comply. I’m afraid it was all a dream, the past years. That it’s not real.’

Steve sighed, deeply. ‘Do you want me to pinch you?’

He said it super seriously, making Bucky huff, kind of annoyed.

‘No, you punk.’

‘Want me to slap you? Pull your hair?’

‘Steve!’

‘Hey, remember when we were in Iowa?’, Steve was grinning. ‘And you got into a fight with a cow?’

‘I did not get into a fight with a cow, the damn thing just started following me.’

‘Right.’, Steve snorted. ‘And then you somehow ended up with the cow sleeping on top of you.’

Bucky mumbled something that Cisco didn’t understand.

‘And remember that one time we decided to go to an actual cinema and see a 3D movie? And we fell asleep?’

‘Security had to wake us up.’, Bucky sounded like he was smiling.

‘Yeah. And remember that time we fought half of the Avengers in Germany?’

‘How could I ever forget that?’, Bucky was dripping sarcasm.

‘Right, you won’t ever forget that. And, honestly, you were always shit at creative writing, so there’s no way you could have made that one up.’

There was a long pause, until Steve spoke, very softly, even softly than before.

‘What Hydra did to you is real. What happened on the bridge and the helicarrier, that’s real. What happened afterwards, the two years you spent on your own, that’s real. Romania, Germany, that’s real. All the nothing we did together after, that’s real, too.’

Steve took a deep breath. ‘I’m real, Buck. And I’ll always be by your side to remind you. Later today, when you wake up from the surgery, and all the days after that.’

‘All the days?’, Bucky whispered.

‘All of them, forever.’

There were a lot of emotions in Steve’s voice, so much so that Cisco was glad he wasn’t turned to see him. But the way he had said it… Cisco knew it meant a lot more than just what the words meant.

It meant what Cisco wanted to say to Caitlin.

‘To the end of the line?’, Bucky said around a smile.

‘To the end of every line.’

Cisco didn’t feel like it was safe to turn around just yet, but his eyes moved to Caitlin. She was already smiling at him.

‘How’s that waiting game going?’

The fact that she was so certain of things, that she was teasing him shamelessly, without hesitation, it was very surprising.

‘Honestly?’, Cisco blinked at her. ‘If it keeps going like this, it’s gonna crash and burn real soon.’

Caitlin snorted, shaking her head before turning around to Steve and Bucky. Because he was watching her, Cisco saw her eyes grow wide, her cheeks flush, and how she pursed her lips. Of course, he had to turn to look.

The two men were kissing. Bucky was still laying down in bed, Steve was bent over him. Bucky’s hand on was the back of Steve’s neck, Steve’s hands were on the bed, holding himself up. The kiss looked… desperate, really. Like they’ve been waiting for it for a long time.

‘Germs!’, Shuri yelled. ‘Steve, you’re giving Bucky your germs! Stop it and get out!’

Both of the men were blushing furiously, but it was clear that they were both happy with this development.

‘I need to give Bucky an arm, now!’, Shuri said strongly. ‘You two can figure out what to do with it, later.’

They blushed even worse. It was quite a glorious sight.

✪

The surgery took 13 hours but Cisco didn’t really do much. He was in charge of removing the leftover Hydra tech, and that took about three hours. After that, he went to the Cortex and took care of making smoothies and protein shakes for the two ladies.

He was also in charge of Steve, who was restless, to say the least. Even if all the computers in the Cortex were livestreaming the surgery, it clearly wasn’t enough. Cisco let him be for a few hours, but then he breached to Big Belly and got them food, and then he asked what had been on his mind since he heard it.

‘You don’t have to explain, but I’m curious. What does _To the end of the line_ mean?’

Steve smiled. ‘It’s something that we say. Well, no, actually, this is just the third time we’ve said it. Uhm.’, he took a deep breath. ‘The first time Buck said it to me was after my mom died and he did it to remind me I’m not alone, _I’m with you to the end of the line_. The second time, I said it on the helicarrier. He was supposed to kill me, but he didn’t. And then… Now.’

‘Now.’, Cisco agreed. ‘Jesus christ, man, the two of you are incredible, aren’t you?’

Steve frowned at that.

‘I mean, yeah, you’re superheroes and you have the superserum and all that, but the two of you, the… the- I mean…’, Cisco shook his head. ‘You two, the _people_ , the things you’ve been through to end up here… 70 years apart, cryogenics, mind control, Bucky fighting Hydra for you, you fighting the Avengers for him… It’s-jesus christ, Steve, that’s the stuff of fairytales.’

The other man just nodded at that, very slowly.

‘And to end up together?’, Cisco went on with a grin. ‘That’s even more impossible.’

Steve blushed at that, but just a little. Moreso, he smiled, the love he felt for Bucky so evident, Cisco felt ridiculous for ever doubting it.

‘I gotta say, Steve, you were right.’

‘With what?’

‘You definitely are the leading authority on waiting too long. I mean seriously, it’s been 84 years!’

Cisco didn’t think Steve got the Titanic reference, but he laughed anyway.

✪

When the ladies were done with the surgery, Cisco was ready. He put towels in two shower stalls, he made coffee, he had a various array of food ready. Caitlin and Shuri were both thankful, but they sped up through it and were back in the lab after 30 minutes, waking Bucky up.

Even if Steve was the first thing he saw after opening his eyes, Bucky woke up with a gasp. He sat up in the bad, staring down at his new arm.

‘Everything went according to plan.’, Caitlin said gently.

‘We need you to move it, now.’, Shuri was not as gentle.

Steve grabbed Bucky’s flesh hand, intertwining their fingers together.

Slowly, so very slowly, Bucky moved his metal fingers.

‘Any pain?’, Caitlin was quick to ask.

He shook his head, kept moving his fingers. And then he moved his hand from the wrist down, then he bent his arm at the elbow, then he moved all of it, from the shoulder.

‘Steve?’, Caitlin said gently. ‘Why don’t you come on this side of the bed and hold Bucky’s other hand?’

Captain America almost tripped on his own feet in his haste to reach for the metal arm, but he got there, and the second his fingers touched metal, Bucky gasped and looked up with wide eyes.

‘You can feel that?’, Steve whispered.

Bucky nodded, looking back to the arm. Steve wrapped his fingers properly around the metal ones, places his other hand on the elbow. That’s all it took for Bucky to start crying.

Sobbing, he went from shocked to sobbing in three seconds flat, but it looked like Cisco was the only one who wasn’t expecting it.

✪

That night, Steve didn’t sleep, as much as he held Bucky. The rest of them took turns napping in the lounge, but it only took a couple of hours for Bucky to sleep off the drugs. After that, there were a couple of hours of tests.

By the time it was noon, everyone was exhausted (except for Bucky) and the arm was performing beautifully. Shuri left, after a series of hugs and making Bucky pinky promise he’ll call, and Steve all but threw Caitlin and Cisco out of the lab.

He promised he’ll call if anything happened, he listened closely to Caitlin teaching him how to read the machines, but she only agreed to leave after Bucky promised, for the billionth time, that he wasn’t in any pain.

Back at her apartment, Cisco showered quickly. Caitlin was already in bed, but she hadn’t really bothered with changing in pajamas. The jeans she was wearing were thrown on the floor, as was a bra, and because she was sprawled on her stomach in the middle of the bed, the Star Labs shirt she was still wearing had ridden up, so Cisco had a very clear view of her panties and ass.

He thought about it, for a second there. He thought about actually doing something about it, but they were both exhausted and emotionally drained. So Cisco took a deep breath, covered Caitlin with a sheet and wrapped himself around her too, for good measure.

✪

They woke up at dinner time and went back to the lab, spending the next couple of hours running more tests on Bucky. Honestly, they didn’t really need to, Shuri’s work was exquisite.

‘I think we’ll need to do some training tomorrow.’, Caitlin said. ‘Make sure the arm is functioning in combat conditions. But after that, you’re free to go.’

Bucky shared a long look with Steve.

‘You haven’t asked us what we’re gonna do after.’, Bucky pointed out.

‘You can stay at my place as long as you want.’, Cisco was quick to say. ‘We’re not kicking you out or anything.’

‘Thank you.’, Steve smiled. ‘We’re always going to be grateful for what you have done for us.’

‘Tell ‘em, Steve.’, Bucky grabbed his hand. ‘They should know.’

Caitlin instantly became anxious, looking from Steve to Bucky with fear in her eyes.

‘It’s okay.’, Bucky was quick to say. ‘Relax, doc.’

She didn’t. Caitlin pinned Steve down with an expectant look.

‘Ever since we ran, Tony has been searching for Hydra.’

‘Is he allowed to do that?’, Cisco asked.

Steve shrugged. ‘After the Sokovia accords blew up-’

‘After we blew them up.’, Bucky corrected.

‘Tony’s been doing a lot of work on his own, but when he delivers a Hydra higherup to the Government, nobody ever tells him to stop.’

Cisco snorted.

‘There isn’t much of Hydra left.’, Bucky said, slowly. ‘There’s still some of Shield left-’

‘Good parts.’, Steve interrupted strongly. ‘I trust the Director with my life. And he destroyed most of what was left of Hydra.’

‘Stark took care of what was left.’

‘I’ve been in touch with Tony.’, Steve said. ‘Yesterday, he got his hands on the last Hydra member we had intel on. He was high in command, one of Pierce’s right hands.’ He swallowed, thickly. ‘He’s the only one left alive who witnessed Bucky’s… treatment.’

‘After you give me the okay’, Bucky told Caitlin, ‘we’re going to DC. Stark’s got lawyers. And a lot of evidence gathered from Hydra.’

‘Evidence?’, Caitlin was frowning, but Cisco wasn’t.

‘You want to try to clear your name.’

Bucky nodded.

‘Is that wise?’, Cisco was dubious.

‘We’re tired of running.’, Steve sighed. ‘If it doesn’t work out, we’ll run again. But we both agree that we need to try.’

‘Do you really think they’ll give you back the shield?’, it was clear that Caitlin didn’t believe that will happen.

Steve smiled. ‘I don’t want the shield. I want Bucky and I to buy a house. Maybe a loft, in Brooklyn, or a house in San Francisco. We have a friend there, who has a security firm made out of ex cons.’

‘That would be the perfect job for me!’, Bucky grinned. ‘And Steve could go back to doing his art.’

‘We don’t _need_ jobs.’, he explained. ‘70 years of back-pay is enough to last us five lifetimes. But we need something to keep us busy. These last months of doing nothing, they’ve been alright, but neither of us can handle it for much longer.’

‘What about the Avengers?’, Cisco had to ask.

Steve shrugged. ‘They’ve got my number. I’ll be there when they call.’

Caitlin spent a few moments biting on her lower lip, but then she looked up at Bucky, and she smiled. A little shakily, but she did smile.

‘I’m very proud of you for doing this.’

Bucky was surprised. ‘Awh, shucks, doc.’

She chuckled. ‘If there’s anything we can do to help-’

‘Just call.’, Cisco finished. ‘We’ll be there in a flash.’

‘Well, in a breach. We’ll be there in a breach.’, Caitlin grinned.

It was such a bad pun. Cisco was proud of her.

✪

Cisco stayed behind at the lab for a few more hours after he breached Caitlin home, working on adapting the speed lab for Bucky’s training needs.

When he got to her apartment, Caitlin was asleep on the couch, the tv was playing Gilmore Girls and there was a plate of food waiting for him in the microwave.

Once again, Cisco was hit with the domesticity of the situation, but this time, it was quite horrible, because he knew it will be coming to an end.

She knew it, too. He woke her up, trying to take her to bed, and when Cisco joined her under the covers, she snuggled up to him immediately.

✪

Cisco spent the next day drooling.

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were monsters, and watching them train and spar with each other was an experience that couldn’t be explained using mere mortal words.

✪

Caitlin cried when they left. Just a few tears and sniffles, but it was enough to make both Steve and Bucky hug her very tightly.

They promised to call if they ever needed help, send an email when they got to DC safety, but it was still hard for Cisco to watch them go. The fact that he was holding onto a still crying Caitlin wasn’t really helping.

✪

They went back to Caitlin’s place, and Cisco gathered his stuff. He could go home, now, sleep in his own bed.

He was very reluctant to do so.

‘Everyone comes back tomorrow.’, Caitlin said gently. ‘I called Barry.’

‘Does he know anything about what we’ve been doing?’

‘No, I told him it’s a secret we’re going to take to our grave.’

He snorted at that, before the amusement disappeared. They were in her living room, he was holding onto his suitcase, she was already wearing pajamas.

‘So life’s gonna go back to normal, huh?’

Caitlin smiled, gently, at him.

‘Our normal isn’t really normal, Cisco. But yes.’

‘Feels weird.’, he admitted.

She nodded at that, before smiling and hugging him. He was quick to put down his suitcase and hug her back, pushing his nose to her hair.

‘How’s that waiting game going?’, she whispered.

He tightened his hold on her. ‘It’s on his last legs.’

‘Good.’ Caitlin kissed his cheek before stepping out of the hug. ‘Now go home, I’ll see you in the morning.’

✪

In the next week, Cisco kept an eye on the news, which was filled with Bucky’s trial, but they never really said too much. Mostly, they shared details of the shit he went through, the shit Steve and him went through, but there was no real information about how the trial was going.

Beyond that, things went back to their usual levels of normal. The Flash was back at Star Labs, they all worked to keep their city safe.

The one thing that wasn’t normal but was becoming the norm was the fact that every day, Cisco had multiple opportunities to confess to Caitlin. They never seemed good enough.

When he was going to tell her that he loved her, when he was going to ask her out on a date, he wanted it to be… not spectacular, necessarily, but memorable.

It wouldn’t do to do it in his workshop, in her lab, in the Cortex. Not when they were having lunch at Big Belly, not when they were out for drinks with the team.

Every night, he told himself he was going to do it the next day, and every day, he didn’t find a right moment to do it.

He was being ridiculous, he did realize that. At this point, Caitlin probably couldn't care less, she probably would be okay with him asking her out through a text.

But he wasn’t. Cisco was going to find a memorable way to do it.

Somehow.

✪

‘Guys?’, Iris walked in the Cortex. ‘Cisco, there’s someone looking for you and Caitlin.’

He turned around, his eyes growing wide when he saw a man in a black suit, with an earpiece on, holding an FBI badge.

Caitlin got there quickly.

‘I’m here to take you to DC. You’re to take the stand in the case of State vs. Barnes, tomorrow morning.’

Cisco was not expecting that.

‘Of course.’, Caitlin said strongly. ‘Do we have time to pack a bag?’

‘You have two hours. There will be cars waiting for you at your apartments, to take you to the airport.’

‘Do we need lawyers?’, Cisco asked.

‘No, you will just testify in favor of Sergeant Barnes, there are no allegations brought to you.’ The man rolled his eyes. ‘If the need arises, Tony Stark has more than enough lawyers to spare.’

He left soon after that, leaving a silent Cortex in his wake, everyone watching Caitlin and Cisco.

‘What the hell?’, Barry finally said.

Cisco snapped out of it. ‘Remember when I stayed with Caitlin because my apartment had a rat infestation?’

‘And when I made you clear out of Star Labs for a few days for a reason I can barely even remember?’, she went on.

‘We lied.’, Cisco said. ‘Sorry.’

‘So you were helping Bucky Barnes?’, Iris was frowning.

‘Yeah, he and Steve stayed at my place. And then, with some help from an undisclosed third party, we needed the lab to give Bucky a new arm.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us?’, Barry sounded sad.

‘They were on the run.’, Caitlin sounded apologetic. ‘And very paranoid, really. We only stumbled upon them by chance and they were pretty adamant about not telling anyone else.’

‘It’s okay.’, Iris said after a beat. ‘We get it.’

‘Yeah, of course.’, Barry nodded. ‘Need help packing?’

Cisco opened a breach. ‘We got it.’

✪

They were already on a plane, the FBI agent sitting two rows down, when Cisco asked.

‘What are we gonna say?’

‘The truth.’, she didn’t hesitate. ‘But maybe not… If we can help it, maybe we shouldn’t reveal our identities.’

‘Right. But everything else…’

‘We tell the truth.’

Cisco nodded. ‘We tell the truth.’

✪

They were taken to a pretty fancy hotel, and they got a room. One bed. Cisco was actually relieved.

A young man knocked on their door, introduced himself as Tony Stark’s PA, informed them that there will be a car waiting for them in an hour, to take them to dinner with the Avengers.

Cisco blinked slowly at him. ‘I didn’t think to bring another suit.’

The guys snorted. ‘If he can help it, Mr. Stark doesn’t wear suits. Jeans will do just fine, Mr. Ramon.’

After closing the door, he turned to Caitlin.

‘We’re meeting the Avengers.’ She sounded incredulous.

‘So I probably shouldn’t wear my Batman shirt, huh?’

She snorted.

✪

They were taken to a pizza place, that was emptied out except for the Avengers.

Iron Man, Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, Hawkeye.

Cisco may have died and went to Heaven.

‘Bucky’s not here.’, Caitlin said.

Cisco may have died and went to Hell.

Falcon was the one to see them, and he nudged Steve, who was quick to get up and come to their side. He hugged Caitlin, shook Cisco’s hand and introduced the rest of the Avengers.

Like they didn’t know who they were, really now.

They sat down at a table filled with pizza, and Cisco remembered he was starving. He didn’t say much, to start with. Instead, he listened to Tony and Steve bring them up to date with what was happening with the trial.

Most of it went over Cisco’s head, but he got the main gist of it: they had a chance at winning. There was also a chance it will all go to hell, but the Hydra goon testified already and while it was horrible, it was in Bucky’s favor. That’s why they were there, too. Shuri wasn’t going to testify, on account that she was a minor and Wakandan. Apparently, the US government didn’t trust Wakanda that much, after finding out how much they have been hiding. But the fact that Cisco and Caitlin were there during the procedure made them viable to testify.

‘Where’s Bucky?’, Caitlin asked when the men were done explaining.

Steve smiled at her. ‘He’s in custody, but he’s okay.’

‘He’s in jail, how is he okay?’

‘They’re treating him well.’, Tony scoffed. ‘We’re making sure of it.’

‘And they’re letting us see him anytime.’, Sam added. ‘Sure, there’s like five armed guards there at all times, but they let us keep him company.’

‘Though Steve’s the one who’s there the most.’, Natasha said in a teasing tone.

Both Caitlin and Cisco instantly turned to look at Steve. He wasn’t even blushing.

‘They have yet to stop teasing me about… uhm-’

Sam snorted. ‘Finally getting your shit together?’

‘Finally getting your boy?’, Clint’s tone was sleek.

‘How’s Bucky’s arm working?’, Caitlin not-so-smoothly changed the subject.

‘It’s fine.’, Steve smiled at her. ‘No pain, no issues whatsoever. It took him a while to get used to the sensations it gives, but beyond that, smooth sailing.’

‘And they didn’t take it off, did they?’

Steve’s face dropped. ‘Why would you ask that?’

‘I figured they’d see it as a weapon.’, Caitlin said, meekly.

‘They’re well aware he could easily escape.’, Clint snorted. ‘But the lawyers did a good job at convincing everyone that he’s, you know, still human.’

‘The fact that they had convincing to do says a lot.’

‘He’s fine, though.’, Steve insisted. ‘They’re taking good care of him.’

‘Could we visit him?’, Caitlin asked, hopefully.

‘You’re testifying tomorrow.’, Natasha said. ‘It’ll be a rush, but maybe you can visit afterwards.’

‘They’re pretty fast.’, Steve snorted.

Nobody laughed, so clearly he hadn’t told anyone about the Flash or about their powers. Caitlin and Cisco shared a sneaky look, that seemed to confuse everyone else.

‘Okay, weirdos.’, Clint said in amusement. ‘So do you guys have 100 years of history together, or does being as lovey-dovey as Steve and Bucky come naturally to you?’

Cisco knew he was blushing, and he knew Caitlin was blushing as well. Neither of them managed to say anything.

Steve started laughing.

Caitlin turned to Natasha. ‘Is there any wine? Beer? Tequila?’

‘I like you.’, the Black Widow smiled. ‘And we have wine.’

Cisco and Caitlin ended up finishing a bottle just between themselves.

✪

They didn’t sleep much, that night. They tried to, but after two hours of tossing and turning in various positions, they gave up and loaded up Netflix.

Caitlin mumbled about how she was going to have to use a lot of concealer in the morning, and Cisco didn’t even think before telling her she was beautiful with or without makeup. He realized what he had said a second later, but Caitlin was smiling at him, playfully, so it was okay.

✪

The courtroom was almost empty.

There was a judge, a jury of twelve and three different lawyers for each side, the Avengers were in the room, but that was it. The first hour was spent reading a longass NDA that they had to sign, that stated that nothing was going to leave the room, there will be a written account of the trial, but it will only be available to people with the highest clearance in the country.

They also had immunity, apparently. Bucky had been adamant about that, so both Caitlin and Cisco won’t be charged with anything (like aiding fugitives), no matter what information comes up.

Finally, Bucky was brought in. He was wearing a dark grey jumpsuit that was missing a sleeve, so his metal arm was visible. There were cuffs around his wrist, that were probably magnetic, but they weren’t active, he could still move both of his arms.

So when he saw Caitlin and Cisco, he grinned and waved.

‘He’s fine.’, Caitlin whispered. ‘He seems fine.’

He really did, but Cisco didn’t get to tell her that, because Caitlin was called up.

The prosecution was the first to question her. They were pretty rude and nasty, but Caitlin kept her cool. She answered every question analytically, from a doctor’s perspective, she explained the procedure in great detail, even the parts that Shuri did.

It went well, until it all crashed and burned.

The attorney pointed out that he didn’t understand how they ended up helping Bucky.

‘You just walked into them? That sounds ridiculous. And why would you help, anyway? You’re just a random doctor and an engineer, what gives you the expertise to get involved in such a case?’

Cisco felt his blood boil, and he knew Caitlin felt the same. They locked eyes, she was asking him something.

‘Everyone signed NDAs, right?’, he said out loud.

The prosecutor turned and screamed at him to not speak out of order.

Cisco ignored him, looked to the judge.

‘Yes, everyone has signed the same NDAs that you have. Nothing will leave this room.’ she turned to Caitlin. ‘I suggest you say whatever you need to say, Doctor Snow.’

‘Doc, you don’t have to-’, Bucky tried, but Cisco cut him off.

‘Go for it, Caitlin. It’s fine.’

She took a deep breath, glaring at the prosecutor.

‘I’m Killer Frost, and Cisco Ramon is Vibe.’

The statement was met with silence. Finally, the judge said a polite and confused ‘Excuse me?’

‘We’re metahumans.’, Caitlin said confidently. ‘We work with The Flash to keep safe Central City and, a few times, the world.’

‘Our powers aren’t relevant to the case.’, she went on. ‘But when Mr. Ramon bumped into Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes in a coffee shop, he worried about the safety of our city. So we stalked them, basically. That’s how we knew they were attacked by Hydra.’

She took a deep breath. ‘We offered them a safe place to stay afterwards because we’re decent human beings who have spent the last few years helping as many people as we could.’

‘You mean after you blew up the particle accelerator.’, the prosecutor said.

Cisco wanted to punch him in the face.

So did Caitlin, but she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

‘We didn’t have any personal involvement with the sabotage of the particle accelerator. I’d direct you to Iris West-Allen’s blog, that’s the truest account of what happened, when Reverse Flash spent 15 years impersonating Harrison Wells just so he could make the explosion happen. But yes, after that, both Mr. Ramon and I did everything in our power to make things right, and that meant working with the Flash, as a doctor and an engineer, even before our powers started manifesting.’

‘So you think you were qualified because you’re sidekicks?’

Cisco would have got up from his seat if it wasn’t for Natasha putting a firm hand on his knee. Caitlin’s voice turned cold, but not as cold as it could have.

‘I’m qualified because I’m a brilliant doctor and bio-engineer who has worked with humans with enhanced healing before. Mr. Ramon is qualified because he is a brilliant engineer who, for the past five years, has been making technology that is decades ahead of most things available to the general public. Plus, we _wanted_ to help. Princess Shuri and us, we had the resources and we wanted to help Bucky Barnes live a better life. The fact that you’re making me explain our reasoning for that is, quite frankly, disgusting.’

Cisco would have expected the judge to tell Caitlin off for that, but she didn’t. And the prosecution had no more questions.

The defence attorney only asked Caitlin two questions: if she had any expertise with psychiatry (she did a round of it during her residency) and if she considered Bucky Barnes was a fit individual to be released into the world (yes, yes, 100% yes).

Cisco’s questioning was a lot less dramatic.

At the end of it, Bucky’s lawyers said they did a good job, Steve and Bucky were both smiling at them, and Cisco had fallen just that little bit more in love with Caitlin, because seeing her as a force to be reckoned with, without even turning frosty, was absolutely incredible.

✪

Clint helped them breach to where they were keeping Bucky. He really was fine, he had books and he got to spend a lot of time with the Avengers and, more importantly, he seemed to have hope.

Everyone thought the trial was going in his favor. Lord, Cisco was praying that was true.

If it wasn’t, he was set on helping Steve and Bucky run away. No doubt about it.

‘So how are you two doing?’, Bucky asked, slyly.

‘Fuck off, man.’, Cisco didn’t miss a beat. ‘You’re the center of attention, here.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I won’t forget, though.’

‘Stop it.’, Caitlin was trying not to laugh. ‘Focus on getting out of here, alright? You can come annoy us after that.’

‘Oh, I will.’, he cackled evilly.

‘You can come even if you don’t get out.’, Cisco said.

‘Hey!’, one of the guards said. It lacked strength.

They left soon after, a car waiting to drive them to the airport.

‘I always found it funny’, Clint told them, ‘how after people get in a relationship, they try to hook up everyone they know. Just ignore Bucky, he’s in heart-eyes mode.’

Once in the car, Caitlin leveled Cisco with a look. ‘Are we going to ignore Bucky?’

Cisco looked around. They were in DC, they were exhausted, they were emotionally drained.

‘For now, yeah  we’re going to ignore Bucky.’

She nodded, understanding, before Frost took over.

‘Don’t make us wait too much longer, yeah? It’s getting annoying.’

Nothing else was said about that subject.

✪

Two days later, Ralph turned up in Cisco’s workshop. Clearly, he had something on his mind, but he was hesitating a lot in saying it. Cisco may have snapped at him.

‘Okay! Do you realize how hard you and Caitlin are flirting, lately?’

Cisco opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t actually realize it, but now that Ralph said it, he had to admit it was true. It wasn’t exactly flirting, though, not completely. They teased each other more than before and since Cisco had slept at Caitlin’s, there were a lot more touches between them. Innocent and sweet and completely casual and unplanned.

‘Yeah.’, he breathed out. ‘The truth is, she’s waiting for me to make a move.’

Ralph’s jaw dropped and he didn’t say anything, staring at Cisco.

Barry walked in, a question on his lips, but it died down when he saw the two of them.

‘What’s happening?’, he asked, slowly.

‘Say it again.’, Ralph ordered Cisco. ‘Exactly what you just told me, say it again.’

‘I said that yes, Caitlin and I have been flirting real hard lately, and that she’s waiting for me to make a move.’

‘Dude!’, Barry said with feeling, clapping his shoulder. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘Do you have a plan?’, Ralph helped.

In that moment, in that exact moment, Cisco remembered three things.

One, he remembered a box of knick knacks he had in his closet, a box filled with little things he had got for Caitlin but never really got the chance to give her.

Two, he remembered a vibe he had from Earth 147, of Cisco organizing a treasure hunt.

Three, he remembered Bucky saying _to the end of the line_ and Steve explaining what it meant.

And just like that, yes, Cisco had no idea what he was waiting for and yes, he did have a plan.

‘Guys’, he grinned at Barry and Ralph, ‘I’m going to need your help.’

✪

Two days later, Ralph took Caitlin out for dinner, which was the plan. Meanwhile, Cisco and Barry set everything up, which was the plan.

He texted her just as she and Ralph was finishing up dinner, which was the plan. _Not a huge emergency, but when you can, I’m waiting for you at the lab._

‘You ready for this?’, Barry was incredibly excited.

Cisco was excited too, but he was also scared shitless, which was only mildly ridiculous.

‘Just go away. Thank you, but get out of here.’

Barry laughed as he ran away.

Ralph texted. _She’s on her way!!! You got this, Cisco!_

He took a deep breath, set up the security system on his phone, and headed to the rooftop.

✪

Using the Star Labs security cameras, Cisco followed Caitlin since the moment she got into the parking lot.

In the front hallway, she paused when she saw the holographic line of tape stuck to the floor. She bent down to read the note stuck to it.

_Follow the line, please._

Confused, she made her way to the elevator.

In there, she found another note directing her to a certain level, and, stuck to the mirror, a bottle of silver nail polish. She was still confused, but she smiled and took the bottle with her.

The speed lab was the first stop. There, Caitlin found a snowflake shaped keychain that made her smile. Her next stop was the Cortex, where she found a fluffy hoodie, light blue to match Frost’s eyes.

After that she went to her lab, where she found a new mouse for her computer. Then, she went to Cisco’s workshop, where she got a framed picture from Iris and Barry’s wedding. Sure, it was the one where Nazis attacked, but before that, they looked pretty damn nice, standing next to their friends. Caitlin lingered for a moment, running her fingers over the picture, before heading towards her next stop.

In the pipeline, she found a jewelry box. Inside, there was a small gold pendant shaped as the chemical bonds of serotonin. She spend a lot of time looking down at it, but she did, eventually, move on.

Following the line, she made it to the lounge. There was a teddy bear waiting for her there, extra fluffy and super cute, looking as Captain America. She laughed out loud at that. There was also another note, telling her to put on the hoodie and follow the line to the roof.

‘What are you doing, Cisco?’, she asked out loud.

Of course, she didn’t get an answer. But she did put on the hoodie, even if it didn’t match the dress she was wearing at all.

It took a long time for Caitlin to make her way to the rooftop, because every other step she had to stop and pick up a rose. Red, pink and white roses were scattered all around the line guiding her and with every one she picked up, Caitlin also picked up her pace.

By the time she made it to the roof, her hands were filled with flowers and gifts. Cisco held the door open for her, took the flowers and put them in the vases he had prepared, placed the other things away, too.

She whispered his name in awe, and Cisco got strength from it.

It was the reaction he was going for, really. He had decked the rooftop to the nines. There were fairy lights everywhere, there were lit candles everywhere else, there was soft music playing in the background, there was a table filled with various sweets and wines. More importantly, though, the line that Caitlin had followed through Star Labs stopped in the middle of the roof.

Cisco made his way to that point, placing himself right after the finish line.

She watched him silently, eyes still wide, unmoving.

‘Come on, Caitlin.’, he said gently. ‘You just gotta follow the line a little more.’

‘Right, of course.’ She shook her head and took the few last steps needed, until she was right in front of Cisco.

‘Hi.’, he managed to say.

‘Hi. What is all this? You didn’t need to get me all the gifts.’

‘I know I didn’t. I just…’, he smiled, blushing furiously. ‘I had this box in my closet, labeled with your name. These are just stuff I saw and they made me think of you and I got them even if I never ended up giving them to you.’

‘That’s sweet.’, she breathed out.

‘Except for the Cap bear. I got that in light of recents events.’

Caitlin chuckled. ‘Thank you, Cisco. I love them all, but…’ She didn’t go on, shaking her head and indicating the state the roof was in.

He had to take a moment to compose himself, but he didn’t want to wait anymore. She waited long enough.

‘Do you remember what Bucky said before he went to sleep? He asked Steve if he was going to be there, at the end of the line.’

‘Yeah.’, she frowned. ‘And Steve said that he was going to be there at the end of every line.’

‘Right. That, that stuck with me, especially after Steve explained that Bucky was the one to tell him that first, and that when Steve said it back, Bucky broke through the Hydra mind control.’

Caitlin’s eyes grew wide at that. She looked at Cisco for a few moments, until her eyes fell down to the ground, to the bright shiny tape and its abrupt end.

‘Oh.’, she breathed out shakily.

‘We started this line a long time ago, didn’t we? You and me, Caitlin, we’ve been walking the same line since… since the moment I first stepped into Star Labs, really.’

‘Yes we have.’, she looked back up at him. ‘So is this the end of the line?’

‘Yes and no. If you agree with it, and I’m almost sure you’re going to...’

She smiled at that, nodding and urging him on.

‘It’s the end of _a_ line, and the start of another. We’re still going to be walking it together, but in a different way. No matter what, Caitlin, I’m always going to be walking one line or another with you. I think it’s time we try this new one out.’

Having said that, Cisco was a mess. His heart was beating wildly, his palms was sweating, he regretted everything he had said but knew he wouldn’t have managed anything better.

‘No more waiting?’, Caitlin asked softly.

Cisco shook his head. ‘I’m sorry I made you wait this long, but I-’, his voice broke, but he pushed on. ‘I want to be with you because I love you.’

Her eyes got real glassy in that moment, a sign of tears.

‘I don’t know why I only realized it when Steve and Bucky came along, but I did and I... ‘ He shook his head. ‘I really love you. And I’m sorry for being a mess.’

Caitin chuckled at that, wetly. She was definitely crying.

‘I’ve been falling in love with you since Ralph Dibny’s 27 steps for getting over the love of your life.’

Cisco’s jaw dropped at that. ‘What? But you… you were helping me get over Cynthia!’

‘I was.’, Caitlin nodded. ‘You were in pain and I would have done anything to make it stop. And even though you were hurting, so badly, you were still ready to help me find my dad, because you knew I would regret it if I didn’t. And then…’

She took a deep breath, wiped away a few tears that spilled.

‘And then we were at Jitters, and you looked amazing, but I missed _you_ so much right then. I missed you, being happy. And you said-’

‘Accept that she isn’t the love of your life, because if she were, she’d still be in it.’

Caitlin didn’t mind that he interrupted her.

‘I realized then, that _I_ was there, _I_ was still in your life. And that I want, need, to always be there. From that point on, I couldn’t help it.’

‘Cisco’, she smiled, ‘I love you a ridiculous amount.’

He moved then, quickly took a final step forward. He couldn’t look away for her even if he tried.

‘Go out with me?’, he whispered.

Caitlin’s smile grew, eyes moving to the table he had set up. ‘For chocolate and wine?’

‘To start with.’

She looked down at their feet, frowning. Following her, Cisco saw that they were both standing on the shiny line.

‘Let’s start then.’, Caitlin whispered. She placed her hands on his waist, making him shiver even through layers of clothing.

When Caitlin pushed, Cisco stumbled a step back. He reached for her arms, stabilizing himself. With a grin, she pushed again and this time he was steady for another step, and another, and another.

She looked down, and so did he. They weren’t on the shiny line anymore.

‘To the end of the line?’, Caitlin whispered, excitement seeping through.

Cisco didn’t answer. He didn’t need to anymore, she knew. She knew before he did, probably. So he took a deep breath, moved his hands from her arms to her cheeks.

She was smiling at him, eyes still wet but filled with love, cheeks flushed, her whole body buzzing with excitement. It was the most beautiful thing Cisco had ever seen and he had never felt as much love as he felt right then.

When Cisco kissed her, Caitlin giggled against his lips. It was such a happy sound, so sweet, so very incredible. She wasted no more time in kissing him back, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and pushing their chests together.

It wasn’t a long kiss, because Cisco felt his chest was close to explode. But it was more than enough, at that point. It was a start, a beautiful, exhilarating start to something that he knew will make him incredibly happy.

He wanted to tell her exactly that, but caught movement in the corner of his eye. Looking to the edge of the building, he saw Ralph’s head, floating on top of an elongated neck.

‘Oh shit, he saw me!’, Ralph yelped, before disappearing down. There was no doubt in Cisco’s mind that Barry was waiting for him there.

‘That’s my fault.’, he told Caitlin. ‘I asked for their help to set all this up.’

She gave him a quick kiss before stepping out of the embrace.

‘I’ll grab the wine and flowers, you grab the cupcakes and let’s go to my place?’

Cisco had to give her another kiss (or ten) before he opened up a breach.

✪

That night, he fell asleep in Caitlin’s bed again. But, unlike before, this time Cisco’s lips were bruised in the most pleasant way and he held her as strongly as he longed for.

✪

The next morning, the news was blowing up because Bucky Barnes had been acquitted of all charges. Caitlin cried happy tears, and he was there to kiss them away.

✪

A week later, Vibe and Frost were helping Barry fight a giant robot and honestly, they weren’t doing a very good job at it. Just as Cisco was about to suggest they call in Lyla and a nuke, two undisclosed figures joined the fight. They fell from the sky, one landing on the robot’s head, one right next to Cisco.

‘Steve!’, he yelped when he recognized the man next to him.

If Steve was there, that meant-

‘Bucky’s up there, but he needs a way to fry the circuits.’

‘Will ice do?’, Frost grinned.

Steve listened to something in his ear piece. ‘He says hell yeah.’

With a manic grin, Frost formed a slide underneath her feet and up she went, joining Bucky on the robot’s head. It less than five minutes, the robot was down and they were all panting.

Bucky went and kissed Steve, Caitlin came and kissed Cisco.

Barry watched all this with a confused frown. ‘Who the hell are you guys?’

‘We’re the reason Caitlin and Cisco got together.’, Bucky grinned.

‘Excuse you!’, she glared. ‘We’re the reason you two got together!’

Steve and Bucky held hands, and Caitlin grabbed Cisco’s.

‘What is happening?’, Barry breathed out.

With a laugh, the four of them went back to kissing. Much to Barry’s despair.

✪

The next morning, all the tabloids were featuring a picture of Captain America and the Winter Soldier making out, with Killer Frost and Vibe making out next to them, as the Flash scratched his head.

That picture was used for two different wedding invitations.


End file.
